I believe you and I photographed the same house. It is very near where I live. There are a number of very interesting forgotten buildings in the vicinity of the old home place including the old Roxana schoolhouse. When I posted this picture on the FaceBook page Forgotten Alabama, the owner contacted me telling me some history of the house and his family. My picture is on display this month at the Kennedy-Douglas Art Center in Florence, AL.

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Your wife is a beautiful lady. I admire your photography but more so I admire you model! She is very expressive and possesses a beautiful smile as well as other very attractive attributes. You are fortunate to have such a willing and attractive model at your disposal.

I was pleased with this photo of some yellow wild flowers.

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So are old buildings and bridges! Lol

Marg, these all look great!

Marg, these all look great!

I have the Sigma 150-600 Contemporary and use it often. I have tried it with my Canon 1.4 teleconverter; however, I was not overly pleased with the results. The 1.4 works well on my Canon EF 70-300 and EF 100-400 L-Series lens, but still would rather not use them. I have never tried it with my 2.0 teleconverter. I am not positive, but I think the crop factor on your camera is 1.5 making 600 mm effectively already 900 mm on your camera.

Looking at your pictures, I would want to know your settings/technique, and the distance from the subjects. If handheld at 600 mm, your shutter speed needs to be fast. My rule (for me) is mm length x 1.5 = minimum shutter speed (note: that may need to be 900 mm x 1.5 on your crop frame camera? - not sure). This setting parameter is what I use for my Sigma 150-600. I am sure others would argue with that, but it works for me with this lens. Of course that generally means raising the ISO also, which I have learned to stop being afraid of doing. I commonly shoot at 12,500 ISO with good results even without removing noise in post processing with my EOS R, 5DMKIV, and 6DMKII. I can remove noise in post processing, but not motion blur. However, for a shot such as yours, I would use my tripod. I would still use as fast of a shutter speed as possible because of animal movement, which will also result in motion blur. In general and in my opinion, a faster shutter speed generally results in a sharper picture.

With that being said, your camera has 24.1 MP. That gives you room to crop. If you have a sharp image with good overall IQ, cropping should still result in a good picture quality. I think with the 150-600, you are likely to get better shots by starting with a sharp image and cropping rather than using a teleconverter. Be aware that using a 1.4 or 2.0 teleconverter will effectively add mm to focal length, which makes things monumentally more sensitive requiring an even higher shutter speed if handheld, etc. On a tripod, it should not make much difference.

I would suggest you try the technique I explained above and see if you are pleased with the results before spending money on a teleconverter. Another thing will long mm focal lengths that people new to using a long lens often overlook is the shallow depth of field you can get with 600 mm and a more open aperture. I once photographed an elk probably closer than I should have been when I first bought the lens. The way he was standing, his eyes were in focus, but not his rear. Just look at a DOF chart for longer focal lengths at different aperture settings. Of course, from the distance you shot the photos attached to this post, it would not be an issue.

I am no expert, but I have learned a lot about using my Sigma 150-600 lens by making many mistakes accompanied with some trial and error. I hope you find my comments helpful. Happy Easter and happy photographing!

I can attest to that! My photography equipment is far superior to what I use in my classroom daily!

I will attest to that first hand. My photography equipment is far superior to what I use every day at school when teaching!

I guess it is akin to Yamaha Corp. It was a company originally recognized in the United States for making motorcycles. They also manufacture some of the finest musical instruments made from grand pianos to band and orchestra instruments.

It is as simple as respectfully asking for permission in most instances. I think it is important to be respectful of the boundaries that people establish for what is theirs. A little common courtesy often goes a very long way.

Definitely pretty close names!

I was passing the Walter F. George Lock and Dam on the Chattahoochee River at the Alabama/Georgia State Line near Fort Gaines, GA this past Thursday evening at dusk and decided to stop and take some dam pictures!

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It seems that eagles have been a hot photo gallery subject lately; so therefore, I decided to post my favorite of my bald eagle shots. The photo was taken at the Rock Pile on the Tennessee River in Muscle Shoals, AL. Thank you my friends Marg Laughlin and Mary Carton for taking me.

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